PM permits auto-rickshaws to ply on Dhaka streets: Quader

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given permission for auto-rickshaws to ply only in Dhaka city for now considering the plight of low-income people.

Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader said this while addressing a discussion on the first founding anniversary of Olama League at the central office of the Awami League in the capital’s Bangabandhu Avenue today, Monday.

However, auto-rickshaws won’t be allowed on 22 highways as per the previous decision.

The decision to ban auto-rickshaws to restore order on the roads was taken in the first meeting of the advisory council for road transport on 15 May. Following that, the police started drives to stop auto-rickshaw movement in Dhaka.

Meanwhile, the auto-rickshaw drivers on Sunday blocked the road and staged demonstrations in different parts of the Mirpur area in the city in protest against the decision. They issued a warning of further intensified protests if the decision is not revoked.

The ‘Battery-Van and Easy-Bike Shangram Parishad’, from a rally in front of the National Press Club on Monday, declared countrywide protests on 27 May if the decision to ban auto-rickshaws is not cancelled immediately.